Rising Alaskan climbing star Balin Miller died this week after falling from Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan, according to his family.
Miller, 23, died in the climbing accident Wednesday, his mother Jeanine Girard-Moorman confirmed to The Associated Press.
“He’s been climbing since he was a young boy,” she said. “His heart and soul was truly to just climb. He loved to climb and it was never about money and fame.”
El Capitan is a sheer rock face roughly 3,000 feet tall. While it’s still unclear exactly what happened, Balin’s older brother said he’d been rope soloing on a 2,400-foot route, had already finished the climb and was hauling up his last bit of gear when he likely rappelled off the end of his rope.
The National Park Service said in a statement that it’s investigating the incident, noting rangers responded swiftly despite the federal government shutdown that began that same day.
Miller had just recently arrived at Yosemite for some solo climbing before planning to meet up with his family. Fans had been watching him climb on TikTok livestreams in the days leading up to his death.
Earlier this year, Miller — who often applied glitter to his cheeks like warrior makeup before going on a climb — had completed difficult climbs in Patagonia and the Canadian Rockies, including Reality Bath, which had been unrepeated for 37 years, according to Climbing magazine.
“He’s had probably one of the most impressive last six months of climbing of anyone that I can think of,” Clint Helander, a fellow Alaska alpinist, told the Anchorage Daily News.
Miller’s death marks the third at Yosemite this year.
In June, an 18-year-old from Texas died in the park while climbing at Royal Arches. In August, a 29-year-old woman died after being struck in the head by a large tree branch while hiking elsewhere in the park.
With News Wire Service
